Serena is showing signs of championship form

Serena Williams topped Catalina Castano 6-2, 6-2 at the U.S. Open.

NEW YORK -- The backhand was crackling from inside and outside her baseline. The serve was forceful and accurate, and she was devastating around the net.

If eighth-seeded Serena Williams just can strap together that stubbornly loose forehand by the end of this first week of the U.S. Open, you can start thinking of her as a contender.

Day 3 at the final Grand Slam of the year began under sinister skies as the residue of Hurricane Katrina, on a fast track from the Gulf of Mexico, headed for her northern demise. But it never rained until about 15 minutes after Williams had blown away Catalina Castano 6-2, 6-2 Wednesday night.

"I definitely would say a bit smoother performance, even though I made a lot more errors than what I want to, a lot more than what I've made in practice," Williams said. "I'm definitely moving a lot better than in the past couple weeks."

It was not a day for competitive tennis. The five top-seeded women -- No. 1 Maria Sharapova, No. 4 Kim Clijsters, Serena Williams, No. 9 Nadia Petrova and No. 10 Venus Williams -- lost an aggregate 16 games in moving into the third round.

Only 10 men's matches were on the docket. In the three most important confrontations, second-seeded Rafael Nadal cruised past Scoville Jenkins 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 in a second-round match, and in the first round, third-seeded Lleyton Hewitt crushed former French Open winner Al Costa 6-1, 6-2, 6-1 and No. 15 Dominik Hrbaty took out Andreas Seppi 6-2, 6-4, 6-7 (6-8), 6-2.

There was never much doubt about the outcome of the Serena Williams match. The value in watching was in gauging the progress of a two-time U.S. Open champion (1999 and 2002) who has played only five matches since knee and ankle injuries conspired to take the gusto out of her 2005 season.

She's getting better. Her footwork is slicker, and she went from recording 21 winners and 26 unforced errors in her first-round match to 25 and 25 in this one -- and against a much tougher opponent.

From now on, things get much more competitive. On Friday, Williams will play No. 25 Francesca Schiavone, an Italian veteran of nine WTA Tour seasons who beat Williams in straight sets in Rome in May.

It wasn't a great day for the American men. In addition to Jenkins' loss, qualifier Michael Lammer beat Kevin Kim 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4. But serve-and-volleying Taylor Dent of Newport Beach, Calif., fought through high winds to take out Lars Burgsmuller 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.